Can Life be Better without Reality?An “off the top” Response Unfortunately, I will always have to start at the beginning: Design has its intellectual roots in science and art and the daily human encounter with nature (and its physical/social environment/ecology). Otherwise, Design is an empty vessel. It has no specific hold on knowledge, because it […]
Design Theory + Criticism
On Design Research
By Jorge Frascara and Dietmar R. Winkler From Design Research Quarterly Volume 3, Number 3 July 2008 Design Research Society ISSN 1752-8445 Peter K. Storkerson, Editor Editor’s Introduction: Communication design, generally, is an outlier in the larger field of design, by virtue of its non-participation in empirical research and its lack of interest in […]
Visual Culture
Attempts to Streamline World Languages In 1973, Irish (Gaeilge) was accorded “treaty language” status by the European Union with the advantage that the founding treaty was restated in Irish. Irish (Gaeilge) was declared one of the authentic languages with which to correspond with EU institutions. However, despite being the first official language of Ireland, including […]
Helvetica: the film (unedited)
In Visible Language journal, 2010 The King has been dismissed. Long live the Commoner or long live the next king and the next common fad. Most likely, anything useful about “Helvetica,” the film, has been said already. The individual designers who were interviewed during the documentary process framed some of the reasons for its success, […]
Notes on a Personal Bias
Simplicity vs. Complexity, Singularity vs. Plurality When a teacher is given the opportunity to assess the work of students, who are spending time and energy defining their own philosophical positions, I consider it only fair, that he is asked to provide a statement so that they can recognize in his presentations and critiques his framework […]
Failure? Isn’t it Time to Slay the Design Dragon
Visible Language Journal Special IssueCommunication Design Failures:Function & interpretationscrutinized (07/09/09) Warden, Road Prison 36: “What we got here is…failure to communicate. You run one time, you got yourself a set of chains. You run twice you got yourself two sets. You ain’t gonna need no third set, ‘cause you gonna get your mind right. Some […]